| Baltimore City Interstates - Cancellations |
The following information is from a review of a Roads to the Future
folder of MDOT SHA information about the Baltimore Interstate highway
system, that contains various materials dating from 1977 to 1985. This
article cites the cancellation dates for proposed segments of I-70, I-170 and I-83.
While these materials don't have the exact dates, they do pin it down at
least to the year. The final cost estimates and the reasons for the
cancellations are of interest also.
è 3.1 miles of I-70 between western city line and I-170 - officially
canceled in 1981.
Reason - Unacceptable impacts to Leakin Park and to Gwynns Falls Park.
The 1979 estimated cost for the highway in the MDOT CTP (Consolidated
Transportation Program) was $146 million. The funding was transferred
through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Interstate Transfer Program (whereby federal funds from
deleted Interstate sections could be used to finance other highway and mass
transit projects), to help fund the Owings Mills Extension (Section B) of
the Baltimore Metro Subway, which was built 1982-1987.
è 4.4 miles of I-83 between downtown and I-95 - officially canceled
in September 1982.
Reason - Robert Douglas, chief of Bureau of Design for Interstate Division
for Baltimore City (IDBC), stated in January 1985 that the very high
financial costs are what caused the I-83 extension to be cancelled.
The brochure "Transportation Improvements in the East Baltimore I-83
Corridor" (Roads to the Future has a copy) was published in
December 1982 by MDOT SHA and IDBC, and it evaluated various boulevard
improvements in lieu of the cancelled extension of I-83. The 0.75-mile-long
Jones Falls Boulevard (today's South President Street) originated from this proposal, a 6-lane boulevard
completed in 1987, which extends from the truncated south end of the I-83
Jones Falls Expressway into the downtown city streets, providing a smooth
traffic transition between the end of I-83 and the city streets (the
temporary terminus had an inadequate transition). A number of
surface street complete reconstructions (very needed as most were in poor
condition) were undertaken in Fells Point, Canton and
East Baltimore, in the general corridor of the cancelled I-83 extension. The
brochure had this to say about the I-83 extension cancellation (in blue
text):
These proposed highway segments were proposed as
being built as a continuous highway as Interstate I-595, after the
1981
cancellation of the 3.1 mile segment of I-70 between western city line and I-170,
and these segments were officially
canceled in July 1983 --
è 0.9 miles of I-70 between I-170 and I-95
è 0.9 miles of I-170 between I-70 and existing I-170
The 1.4-mile-long segment of I-170 in the Franklin Street / Mulberry Street
corridor, which was opened in 1979, would have also been part of the 3.2-mile-long I-595. The re-designation of this isolated section of I-170 to
US-40, would have occurred soon after the July 1983 cancellation of proposed
I-595, since that is when it became known that I-170 would never be
connected to the Interstate system.
Reason for the cancellation of I-595 - in an August 31, 1983 letter to the
Roads to the Future author, from a transportation engineer of
the Interstate Division for Baltimore City (quote in blue text):
I-595 was withdrawn from consideration in July of this year. In its place
the monies will be spent on a host of other projects, including an extension
of our soon-to-be opened subway from Downtown to Hopkins Hospital and a
large number of road and bridge rehabilitation projects. These projects will
be funded under the "Interstate Transfer" Program, whereby Federal Funds
from deleted Interstate Sections can be used to finance other projects. The
decision to delete I-595 was made because many of our streets and bridges
are in great need of repair, and if we had to use our local revenues to
finance the local share of I-595, we would have even less money left over
for our surface street repairs. Our needs for transit improvements and
bridge repairs are pressing.
The 1982 estimated cost for completing I-595, listed in the MDOT CTP, was
$358 million. That cost was in addition to the $97 million that had already
been spent for the 1.4-mile-long segment of I-170 which opened in 1979. The CTP entry also says
that the I-595 designation was pending official approval. So this proposed
I-595 designation only existed for about a year, and it never did have a
final official approval (i.e. federal approval). So, I-595 was cancelled for
much the same reason as that of the I-83 extension, that the City of
Baltimore's state highway allocations were insufficient to fund the 10%
share of the project when competing with all the other needed city road
improvements.
When the Leakin Park segment of I-70 was canceled, that eliminated a
considerable portion of the utility of the remaining parts of proposed I-70
and I-170 in the city; and while I-595 would have directly connected I-95 to
the western and northern parts of the central business district (which I-95
and I-395 does not do), the overall benefit of I-595 would have been
considerably less than that if the I-70 Leakin Park segment had been built
also, thus completing I-70 in the city.
The brochure "Transportation Improvements in the West Baltimore I-595 Corridor" (Roads to the Future has a copy) was published by MDOT SHA and IDBC in January 1983, and it evaluated various alternatives for I-595. Most of the highway would have been built on elevated viaduct structure, the I-70 portion over the Gwynns Falls creek valley, and the I-170 portion over many street crossings and crossing twice over the Conrail/Amtrak railroad.
Based on the cost estimates in the 1979 and 1982 CTP, it was projected to cost $504 million to complete the proposed sections of I-70 (4.0 miles) and I-170 (0.9 mile). Including the 1.4-mile-long segment of I-170 which opened in 1979 at a cost of $97 million, the total estimated cost for building these 6.3 miles of I-70 and I-170 freeway would have been $601 million at that time.
Roads to the Future Related Articles
Baltimore
Interstate System Map
Baltimore
Harbor Interstate System Map
I-70, I-170,
I-95, I-395, I-83 Interchanges
I-70 in Leakin
Park
Baltimore
Early Expressway Planning
Lead article Baltimore City Interstates
Copyright © 2007 by Scott Kozel. All rights reserved. Reproduction, reuse, or distribution without permission is prohibited.
By Scott M. Kozel, Roads to the Future
(Created 5-8-2007)